Most motor vehicles have a rear compartment that is accessible through a rear compartment gate, such as a trunk lid, a liftgate, a tailgate, or similar rear compartment gate. The rear gate is pivotally mounted on the vehicle body for swinging movement between open and closed positions. At the closed position, the gate is latched by a latch that engages with a striker. It is common for vehicle latches, including rear gate latches, to include a rotary fork bolt that has an unlatched position when the rear gate is open, a primary latch position when the latch is fully engaged with the striker, and a secondary position in which the rotary latch is engaged with the striker but has not reached the fully latched primary latch condition.
It is not unusual for the vehicle user to close the rear gate without imposing enough force to achieve the fully latched primary latch position. Or, sometimes, a piece of luggage or cargo is obstructing the full closing movement of the rear gate. In these situations, the latch obtains only the secondary latched condition. Accordingly, many vehicles have a gate ajar light on the instrument panel so that when the driver starts the car, the gate ajar light will illuminate and the driver is notified that the rear gate has not reached the fully latched position. Upon seeing the gate ajar light illuminated, the driver will then get out of the vehicle, walk around to the rear the vehicle, and then open and re-close the rear gate with greater effort or remove any obstruction that had prevented the full closing movement of the rear gate.
It would be desirable to provide an improved notification to the vehicle user so that the vehicle user could be provided with immediate notification that the latch has not reached the fully latched position, so that the user can take immediate corrective action before getting into the vehicle.